P: Please let us make "destructive" changes to our images

[steve USA]

I work on a library of 7K+ images across 220 directories/folders. When I make changes to an image I want the option to write those to the original file, not just to the catalog/database. There are many reasons for this need but for some reason Lightroom seems to be uniquely defiant and righteous on this topic. Please don't be condescending and tell me to use the Export option because it's just to cumbersome, especially when working on large numbers of files. I just want Ctrl-S to write all changes to the file I'm working on, not a copy.

[steve USA]

When saving JPEG I'd like to see a dialog that estimates the percentage of loss for each overwrite. Something like "Warning: overwriting this JPEG will result in a 20% loss of quality, reducing the file size from 3.1MB to 2.5". We all know that JPEG is lossy but having the amount quantified will help us understand the significance. Especially if we feel we need to save periodically to avoid losing work.

[zigipha]

you do get a "quality" level for savings. But a reduction in quality occurs even if the file size remains the same. this has to do with the quantization errors used in the jpeg compression.  You can get reduce quality with same file size.

[steve USA]

So I get back from an outing and put a new collection of images on my computer and go through and make various edits, working on multiple images at the same time. Is there an easy way to know which images were edited so that I can export them?

[Rikk-Flohr]

Put the images in Library module's  Grid View. At the bottom of the grid should be a toolbar. If it isn't there press [ T ] to reveal it.  Set the Sort Order to Edit Count or Edit Time - whichever is appropriate.  That will group all your edited images into a bundle. 

You can also use a Smart Collection to find Develop>Has Adjustments. 

[drtonyb]

Would be nice to have 'Has Adjustments' as a Filter option, but the Smart Collection method works just fine. The sorting order solution should suffice also.